Buffy the icon

After seven successful seasons on TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer has safely secured her spot as part of North American pop culture. It was only natural that video games would follow, trying to capitalize on the massive following that the TV show had.

During August of 2002, Buffy made her step into the ‘next generation’ with a very respectable third-person Xbox action title. Developed by The Collective (probably best known to PC gamers for its Star Trek: DS9 – The Fallen third-person shooter), Buffy on Xbox successfully captured the spirit of the television show and played like a lost episode. It managed to round up almost all the talent from the TV show to provide the voiceovers (except for Sarah Michelle Gellar, who wasn’t terribly missed thanks to an indistinguishable voice double).

The Collective then went on to recycle much of the Buffy engine work into Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb, which unlike Buffy, is a cross-platform game and available on PC.

There is another

That left room for another developer to come in and work on a follow-up to the Buffy game on Xbox. Enter Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chaos Bleeds, developed by Eurocom Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games.

Even though the Buffy game was in new hands, those familiar with the first one will find many things the same. But first of all, there are a few important differences, especially for those of you who don’t own an Xbox. Unlike the first game, Chaos Bleeds is a multi-platform game. PlayStation 2 and GameCube owners will finally have a piece of the Slayer for their favorite system.